Friday, 19 June 2015

BRITISH dads would rather spend every moment of their spare time with their children than have an evening in with their partners.

Swapping romantic alone time for a kick around in the park with their kids, a study has found a quarter of British men would rather be with their children, favouring it to time with their wives or girlfriends.

A study showed 26 per cent of men aimed to spend up to 10 hours a day with their children, with just five per cent of men opting for one-on-one time with their ladies.

Research conducted by leading bed makers Silentnight discovered more than a quarter of dads surveyed valued family time so much they saw sitting down together at meal times as daily goal - aiming to dine with their kids at least once a day.

Interestingly in comparison to their parents generation, more than 25 per cent of men surveyed claimed to spend less time with their wives and girlfriends than their mums and dads.

Juggling the family balance 30 per cent of dads also believed they slept less and spent less time with their friends than their parents.

A quarter of dads claimed they spent more time with their children than their dads, with busy dads today sacrificing (27 per cent) sleep and hobbies to spend time with their kids.

Keen to be involved in day-to-day family rigmarole, Dads said a ‘good ingredient’ to a top day with the kids was planning leisure activities (32 per cent).

However despite being more hands on than ever, the poll of 1,461 UK parents lifted the lid on why dads are avoiding their better halves - in a bid to duck out of the housework.

While they may like being with the kids, shockingly only 14 per cent of men said getting the housework done was an achievement - while more than double the amount of women (37 per cent) made it one of their daily milestones.

Instead dads were reluctant to avoid other family tasks, with 28 per cent enjoying taking their children to hobbies and only two per cent opting to duck out of the school run if they were having a busy day.

A spokesman for Silentnight, Nick Booth, said: “What is really interesting from the research is almost a third of dads said having a good nights sleep in preparation for the next day, improved time spent with their children.

“As a parent we are constantly juggling routines, social lives and work pressures, so sleep is very important to maximise time with our families.

“British dads are more hands on than ever, so it is more important we look after ourselves and make time for ourselves - which can be something as simple as a good nights sleep.”